Behind the Lens: Concerts in the Park 2026

Downtown Sac in Action | Kiara Badue — Jul 16, 2026

Hi, I’m Reo Gloria, better known around the city as @thebrownchild. Photography and creative direction are what I do, music and live events are where I do my best work, and this was my third summer running as the official photographer for Concerts in the Park (CIP).

Three seasons in, the job feels different then it did on night one. Back then I was still figuring out where to stand, what to shoot, how to read a crowd. This year, standing at the gates on opening night, it hit me that I’m not just showing up to cover this event anymore. I’m growing alongside it, season after season, and starting to feel like part of downtown Sacramento’s story instead of just someone documenting it.

If you were out on a Friday this summer, there’s a good chance I caught you on camera, mid-dance, mid-laugh, or just soaking in the night.

Here’s what stuck with me most from this season:

The Night We Reached Capacity: The All-American Rejects were announced the morning of the show, and by that evening it turned into the most packed I have ever seen this event, full stop. The park literally hit capacity. Entry had to be paused and switched to one-out-one-in, the crowd wrapped around the surrounding blocks, and people were watching from the nearby parking garages and from the building behind the stage just to catch a glimpse. The band matched the moment too, spending most of their acoustic set performing on top of the speakers, right in the crowd’s face. A free Friday concert in downtown Sacramento filled a park past its limits off a single Instagram post. That’s the power of this series.

Lightning Struck Twice: A couple weeks later, CIP had one more trick up its sleeve. Julia Wolf popped up with a surprise acoustic set of her own before The Temper Trap closed the night with “Sweet Disposition” and the entire plaza sang the chorus back at once. Two pop-up sets in one season. At this point, showing up early on a Friday is the best case strategy.

My Native Language: beastboi. turned up EDM week, and shooting that night was second nature to me. EDM and dubstep photography is one of my specialties, so watching people headbang on the rails took me right back to my raving days. What got me this year was seeing how open the crowd was to it, people who probably don’t listen to dubstep or trap on a normal day, fully in it by the end of the set. Those genres get written off sometimes, but dubstep and trap are really just metal and hip-hop wearing different clothes, and this crowd figured that out in real time.

New Traditions, Same Park: This year brought CIP’s first-ever Latin Night and first-ever Juneteenth Night, and both felt less like additions to the calendar and more like the series catching up to who Sacramento actually is. Latin Night was headlined by Andrea Bejar, an artist I had honestly never heard before that Friday. Her sound is ethereal, indie, and completely fresh, and it was one of those reminders of why I love this job. You get exposed to something you never would have found on your own. Families were dancing in circles before she even took the stage. Juneteenth Night had a crowd that sang every single word. I hope both traditions are here to stay, because the photos from those two Fridays speak for themselves.

The Set That Took Me Back: Kid Ink on Juneteenth Night was my personal favorite of the season. I grew up on his music, back during the mixtape era, so this one had an emotional pull the others didn’t. I went in thinking I knew his catalog and still walked away surprised by how many hits he actually has. And what made it even better was watching him respond to fans all night. Almost nobody in that crowd went unnoticed, and that kind of attention from an artist at his level is rare.

The One That Caught Me Off Guard: Every season there’s an artist I didn’t see coming, and this year it was In Color. Their musicality and the way they carried themselves on stage stuck with me longer than I expected. That’s the beauty of shooting this series: nine Fridays in downtown Sacramento means nine chances to discover something new, and this event has never once let me down on that.

Nine Fridays, Nine Different Crowds: Nothing beats seeing the city come together, vibe to music, support local talent, and welcome big acts with open arms. What stood out this year was how every week brought a different energy and a different slice of the community through those gates. Same park, same free show, but the crowd in front of my camera reshaped itself every single Friday, and that variety was half the fun of the job.

Beyond the Barricade: Getting to meet the artists before and after their shows is an opportunity I never take for granted. A quick conversation backstage, a thank you after they load out, sometimes just a nod across the pit. Those small moments don’t always make it into a photo, but they remind me every week that this whole thing runs on people, on both sides of the stage.

None of it happens without the crew that most people never see. Load-in starts hours before gates open. Security, medics, sound and lighting techs, vendor coordinators, the DSP staff running point on logistics, all of it has to come together cleanly, every single Friday, for nine straight weeks, so that thousands of people can just show up and have a good time. When something runs smoothly, it’s because a whole team of people made sure it would. I’ve watched that team handle everything from routine setup to a night that hit capacity without missing a beat, and that kind of work deserves way more credit than it gets.

A big THANK YOU to everyone. From the organizers, to the artists, to the fans who brought the vibe and made this season possible. The people make this event what it is, every single time, and this was an unforgettable season because of it.

I’m already looking forward to doing it all over again next season. Until next time!

– Reo “@thebrownchild”

If you’re looking to collaborate, book me for your next event, or just want to see more of my work from Sacramento’s music scene and beyond, check out my portfolio at www.thebrownchild.com and follow along on Instagram @thebrownchild. I’m always excited to connect with fellow creatives, artists, and event organizers. Let’s keep building something unforgettable together.